Method of making ornamental coverings



R/LLJR. IURMOND 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS SAMUEL A. COHEN s. A. COHEN ETAL f u METHOD 0F MAKING ORNAMENTAL COVERINGS Filed Aug. s, `1940 Aug. 11, 1942.

727@ TTONEY Aug. 11, 1942.

METHOD O S. A. COHEN ETAL F MAKING ORNTMENTAL COVERINGS Filed Aug. 3, 1,940"

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS L A. COHEN- ICHD L N NEWMA L THOMASLEONPJMILLJ CHARLES Z THUPMND AT1-omvat Patented Aug. 11,

This invention vmental and decorative surfacing, facture and application thereof to floor and wall coverings and other mented therewith.

hundred seventy degrees A composition made of a gum, and

Samuel A.

Newman,

I comm,

Cohen, Berkeley, Calif.,

So ervill Morrill, Jr., Alban n to Calif., assignors to The 2,292,510 FICE and Thomas y, and Charles D.A

Inc., San Francisco,

a corporation 'of Delaware Application August 3, 1940, Serial No.

9 Claims. (Cl. 117-13) kind of ornato the manuarticles, and to articles ornarelates to a ynew Thezmorart Fahrenheit (115 to 170 thereon. The diilerent applied colors generally contact each other in the nished product unless the pattern is an this purposes are forms no part of this invention.

'Ihe conditions paint used for printing Printing presses for and their structure open one. well known of operation are such that the must have a combination of characteristics not possessed by ordinary paints for successful commercial mass production, and it was necessary to develop a special type of paint,

known as print paint for this purpose.

For successful commercial production there have been certain requirements as to the characteristics ofthe paint used for printing. .It must have the property of "leveling" without owing'f 60 iinished product; the desired absence of brittleness.

A good gloss has been demanded in the nuct after it has been dried. erty of glossiness depends in part on plgment the pigment, the amount of volatile constituents, and possibly on other factors as Well.

The' oil length essary hardness and toughness of the dried lm may fall oil' rapidly thereabove.

nished article is used.

Temperature susceptibility too brittle when cold 4and too soft when Warm.

Absence of sag a certain amount of hicle and the pigment.

reactivity between the ve- Without suicient redepends to a i depends, at least in part, on

vprint blocks may cause the paint to be sticky" so that it will not separate quickly and completely from the during the 'printing operation, even though the paint may have the proper leveling characteristics;

Ordinary pigments may be used, such, for example, as combinations'of zinc oxide, lithopone, barytes, Whiting, ochres, iron oxide, lithol red, chrome green, Prussian blu lamp black, and the like. In addition to the relations given above concerning the volume of the pigment to the volume of the non-volatile fluid ingredients, the combined weight of the pigment used should be about sixty percent (60%) of the paint exclusive of the volatile material therein.

There should be no residual flow" in the drying racks due to the heat used for drying. -This characteristic depends on the resin and on the solvent used, as `well as on the driers and the reactivity. Not only should the drier be chosen with respect to the lack of residual` flow, but non-Skinning driers are essential because a good print paint must dry from the bottom up or throughout and it must not form a surface skin rst.

The characteristic of "settling of the pigment depends on the reactivity between the pigment and the oil. The print paint must have enough set so that the pigment will not settle out in containers holding the stock paint ready mixed for use on the press, nor in the color boxes of the printing press, yet it must be sufiiciently limpid so that it can be properly applied by transfer rolls to the printing blocks, be properly acted on by the doctors, and be properly printed by the blocks.

Even though the print paint must be limpid as just described, yet it must not stick to the blocks and form stringsf when the blocks pull away from the base to which the printing is besuch strings are apt to fall back onto the pattern and mar it. It may be noted here that a paint can be made so sticky as to cause the goods being printed to be lifted up by the printing blocks as the latter arewithdrawn upwards after making the impression. Too great a reactivity between the pigment and the oil, particularly if the oil contains free acid which is too active, may result in sticking and Stringing, and if the stickiness is sulclently great. in causing the goods to adhere to the printing bloc i In general it may be said that the type of reactivity sought is one which produces the proper amount of thixotropy but which does not produce stickiness.

Alkali resistance should be such that the finished product can be washed with ordinary washing soap or cleansing compounds when it becomes dirty without spoiling it.

In short, a good print paint for use in making conventional iioor, wall, and other coverings must be such that it of a at bed press with the use of a ribbed print block, that a baked (dried) coating of the print paint of sufficient thickness is obtainable, the baked coating having a smooth p through leveling of the paint after printing, the successive areas being free from Stringing, free from bad block joiningsl, the paint being of limited ilow with absence of sag, and having a baking period of from three to four (3 at one hundredsixty degrees Fahrenheit (160 F.) and when baked having the characteristics of toughness,` hardness throughout the film,

can be printed by means surface obtained to4) days'- It is not possible to produce or modify all the l characteristics of a print paint lsingly by the mere use, omission, or modication of a' particular ingredient, because the change of one component may effect a change in several characteristics; and it is therefore not a simple matter to develop' a good print paint.

With all this in view, the various print paint components, the relative proportions thereof, and the functions.thereof,must be so co-ordinated as to produce the desired group of print paint characteristics. It will thus be apparent that print paints are somewhat akin to printing inks in their functions and somewhat akin to varnish enamels in their ingredients; and that they form a highly specialized class of paints having special characteristics and requiring special ingredients and treatments in the manufacture thereof; and that they are very different 4from conventional paints for general use. Print paints h'ave been developed in the course of time that meet the requirements rather well, to a greater or lesser extent. Print paints can be printed without iirst dryingwith different colors so closely adjacent each other that they contact each other in the finished produ t with a sharp color boundary line between them, and furthermore, wet print paint can be printed onto wet print paint which has been previously printed, all without smearing.

A description of a. typical example of a print paint and how to prepare it follows, all the parts indicated being by weight.

A heat bodied oil of approximately H viscosity on the Gardner-Holt scale may be used, and suchl Parts Phenolic resin Drying oil 50 V. M. 8: P. naphtha 100 V. M. 8: P. naph'tha being varnish makers and n painters naphtha, adesignation and a material well known in the art and in commerce.

A vehicle is made, which may consist of Parts Bodied oil as above '70 Varnish as ab0ve 30 V. M. & P. naphtha 5 A base paint is made, which may consist of y Parts Lithopone of medium oil absorption Zinc oxide 50 Vehicle as above 'l5 The iinal print paint is made of l Base paint as above 100 Vehicle as above 40 What precedes describes the prior art manufacture and problems involved therein, of felt base iloor and wall covering having a patterned ornamental surface in different colors with the different colors generally contacting .each other and having common boundaries, each color having a. thickness, toughness and other characteristics to make it resistant enough to wear, for

of approximately C vis- Y with materia] characterized as `paint; to control,y modify,

- 9,299,510 -3 exampleh by peopl'ewalking thereon. to be deeirappearance, which may be characterized'as soft able from an economic pointof view. and velvety but without any appearance of the The thickness of the colored print paints in the velvet nap; to produce a pleasing appearance like completed product as ready for use is at least that of a top plan view of a perhaps hypothetical about fourteen (14) times that obtainable in the 5 material having a short nap the printing of imitation wood training on a background having a color approximating that of wood. Such patterns were necessarily open that is a multiplicity of isolated nai-ro the pattern.

The demand has been which are substantially wear resisting, and glossy' paints which wear well in impart a high gloss thereto.

for ornamental surfaces level throughout, long and present day print the nish hold up under actual conditions of use. Furthermore, long research would probably be required;

with no certainty of success, to develop a suitchanging other characteristics.

The invention Objects of this invention are: To modify the appearance of products printed present day print without objectionable ridges or lessen the glossy 'schematic in natureA and the Fig. 1 of the drawings.

standing iibers which are so short. fine, and closely adjacent to each other that said top plan view thereof does not appear absolutely uniform and yet the individual ilber ends are not individually visible to the eye; to produce a pleasing appearance similar to that of a paint surface having a other and thus having a softer than a glossy level -paint surface.

objects; to accomplish the above objects without Danying drawings Such drawings are principally diagrammatic or erent parts thereon are shown out of their true relative proportions.

Fig. 1 is -a schematic view ofthe preferred apparatus, with some parts in section;

Fig. 2 is a similar view of amodiiication of a part thereof;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of another `modification of the same part Fig. 4 is an approximate end view of a product made according to this invention; and

Fig. 5 is a similar view of another product made according to this invention. f

The preferred method of making the no'vel Product will now be described with reference to The methods of making flour to contain no coarse particles.

Screen Maxi- Minimesh mum mum Average Mesh Percent Percent Percent Propox tion remaining on..- 65 Tr. 0 0 Proportion remaining on..- Tr. 0 Tr. Proportion remaining on.-. im 25 l5 20 Proportion remaining on.-. 325 45 35 40 Proportion passing thru 325 45 35 40 percent (251%), with an average of substantially twenty percent (20%) thereof remains on -a two hundred (200) mesh screen; substantially thirtyfive percent (35%) to forty-five percent (45%),

of vertically ups The sheet Il passes over the roller l5 to form The hardness, or harshness, of the bristles may a loop I1 and then over the roller I9. this loop be the greater, the greater is the amount of wood being provided to allow sufficient slack since the y ilour imbedded in the paint. because the greater sheet moves intermittently out ofthe printing the amount of the wood flour therein the greater machine while thereafter it moves at constant 5 will be the resistance it offers to displacement. speed. The roll l5 is power driven at constant Any excess of wood flour which is not pushed speed but is of such a nature that it will slip down into the paint layer by' the brush will be under and in contact with the sheet when the latremoved by it from the surface and thrown into ter is not inmotion. The roll I9 is power driven the trough 35 from which it may vbe removed at constant speed, there being suflicient friction l through one or more pipes 31 to which suction between this roll and the sheet so that the loop is applied. It is preferred not to let such rel1 and the next loop to be hereinafter referred moved excess wood flour drop back into and mix to are maintained without either one straightenwith the wood flour within the loop 21, since ing out. there may be times in large scale manufacturing The first application of the wood flour is best l when this removed wood flour may have acquired enough being applied to set the surface of the the best product. The sheet then forms the loop pare it for a heavier application of the wood flour. for in the process. This setting merely amounts to making the sur- All of the parts so far described about which face of the wet paint less wet or fluent. The wood flour flies about are preferably within an most expedient way to accomplish the first and enclosure 41 forming a substantially sealed .light application is -by floating it in air (or other chamber except for slots 49 and 51| to permit the gas if desired), making what might be termed ingress and egressl of the sheet, and if desired a cloud or fog of wood flour, and directing such 25 the loop I1 may also be within such enclosure. Y cloud or fog onto the wet, printed surface, For The treatment .with the wood flour is the only this first application of the Wood flour, a conduit deviation ,from standard practice in the manu- 2| is provided to direct the air laden with the facture of printed felt bas'e floork and wall coverwood flour onto the freshly painted surface and ings, in the process so far described, which, as across the whole width of the sheet as it passes already stated above, have been manufactured over the roll I9. The cloud or fog should, of on a very large scale. The next steps to which course, not have sulcient force to disturb the the sheet is subjected are the old conventional v painted surface, but it should have sufilcient ones of cutting into lengths as desired, and dryvelocity so that particles of flour reach all parts ing the paint to harden it. The sheet passes onto of the paint surface evenly and become fixed a vacuum belt 4I which is endless and passes therein. A very uniform mixture of air and over rollers 43, I5 at least one of which is to be iiour should he used to prevent the no ur from .driven at the proper speed. This belt advances forming flocks or bare spots on the paint surthe sheet to the cutting station at which the face. The angle at which the air-wood flour conventional knife 53 which has been used for oniy a light application lightly applied, just characteristics unsuitable for the production of wet paint, that is to make it less fluent to pre- 39 to take up any slack not otherwise provided mixture'strikes the paint may be' about thirty 40 cutting the well-known prior printed felt basel degrees (30). iioor and wall coverings into lengths is stationed, Naturally, there will be an excess of wood our and it may be used in the same manner and for which does not adhere to the paint and such exthe same purpose inthe manufacture of the cess is blown into a trough 23 from which it is product of this invention. The conventional.

removed through one or more pipes 25 by means 45 treatment then has been to. dry and harden the of suction applied thereto. The sheet then printed paint on the printed felt base floor and forms another loop 21 by passing over the roll wall coverings by placing the sheets, cut into 29, the loop 21 containing a mass of the Wood suitable lengths at the cutting station 53, inheriilour 3| in such an amount that there will be a zontal position with the printed face up, on horirelative movement between it and the sheet 5'0 zontal racksina suitably heated drying chamber, which may be described as sliding rather than as set forth in the patent to Rosener,No. 1,743,397, merely rolling or tumbling. With the two verdated January 14, 1930. The same drying chamtical portions of the loop 21 about twenty (20) bers and the' same method of hardening the inches apart and this loop at least several times paint with the wood flour therein may be applied as deep, the -thickness of the wood flour layer to the new product. Another way of drying the therein may range from about one (1) inch up to printed paint is to hang the sheet in festoons five (5) or six (6) inches. which may be stationary or slowly moving in a Roll 29 is power driven at constantspeed and suitably heated drying chamber which is preferhas the same peripheral speed as the roll 1 9, and ably very high to permit of long festoons. Such it may be of the same diameter. As the printed a drying chamber is indicated at 55 in which sheet carrying the wood flour passes over the are sulcient rollers 51 ata suiiicient height roll 29 it is brushed by means of a very soft reabove the iloor to make the festoons sufficiently volving brush 33 which preferably rotates in a long to cause the paint to be thoroughly dried direction opposing the movement of the sheet and solidied when the sheet emerges from the and is preferably made of long, soft goat hair or chamber.

the like. Other hair coverings may be substi- The subsequent steps of the process depart tuted, such as beaver, but not sufficient advanfrom prior procedure.

tage is gained to offset the cost of this expensive The sheet is next abraded in any suitable manfine fur. The long, soft hair bristles push the ner to loosen and remove excess wood flour on wood flour down into the paint layer without the surface thereof.- The degree of abrasion there being .any evidence of smearing if the speed should be sumcient to loosen any excess which of the brush is properly chosen. The proper might mar .the appearance of the product, yet

speed will depend on the length and the softness it should not be sufficient itself to mar it. The of the bristles and perhaps on other factors, and preferred manner of abrading is by a self-sandit is best ascertained once and for all by trial. ing" operation in which two faces having the wood our thereon are caused to rub against each other. With this in view,

downwardly and against the upwardly facing ornamented surface passing to the right. The roll 63 may be omitted, and if desired, the roll 6| also, provided the abrasive effect is suicient to'remove enough of the wood our to give a pleasing appearance to the ornamental surface and to prevent enough wood fiour remaining so that the surface will not have the appearance ofl ock or of flock-printing.

Any loose particles are suitably removed after the abrading step, preferably by means of suction applied through a hopper-like member `6'|.

'On leaving the roll 59 in its passage to the left as shown on Fig. 1, and after removal of the loose wood our, the product is complete for some uses except for possible cutting into suitable size, if it has not already been so cut. It shows the l The appearance is not flock-like but is smooth and homogeneous; and while it ismore While the by present day conventional methods, it is still thicker in the product of this invention because the same amount of the same kind of print paint and the thicker than formerly without the necessity for using more print paint. Not only'is the ornamental layer of print paint thicker, but it is more resistant to compression and to wear on account of the solid wood iiour imbedded therein. 'I'he print paint colors show clearly in spite of 65 the presence of the wood our, and the color of the wood lour itself is invisible if our of the proper wood be chosen.

When the product is to be used as a :door cover- 70 applied as a coating to ordinary linoleum.

Forapplying such a coating, the sheet, after leaving the roller 59 for the second time, may be carried over a roller 1| and under a sprayer 'I3 to which the coating liquid is supplied, and which sprays it onto the decorative surface where it dries.

The method of and means for applying the wet printed paint may be varand this may comprise a. tapping bar |05 having pivotal connections |01 reciprocated fast by means of an eccentric |09. Any other suitable means for tapping or jarring the sheet may be used. A brush m, similar in its function to the brushes 33 and 83, is located in the same relative position as indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, with a trough-like member 3 surrounding the brush to catch the thrown-oir wood our which may be removed therefrom by a curof the thrown-01T is. An air blast A v loop 99, and this 'which has a very 'is preferably for the smoothness and aids air blast may issue, for example, from 9, perforated or slotted pipe sheet. After leaving the parts of the machine shown on Fig.

past the 53 as shown on Fig. 1, if the cutter is to'be used. The sheet then passes to the drying and abrading stations shown on Fig. 1, and then, to the coating station 13 shown thereon.

Fig. 2 illustrates a means and method wherein there is no preliminary application of Wood flour Fig. 3 illustrates a preliminary application prior to the main application, but this preliminary application is considerably heavier and may not be controlled as easily as the application by fogging as shown on Fig. 1. f

The brushes 33, 83 and III, by their very light or mild brushing action, have the function of. pushing the applied wood flour down into the layer of`wet printed paint and also of removing the excess from the surface thereof without smearing the print paint. In place of the brush any suitable means may be provided which performs both of these functions, either simultaneously or consecutively, and in certain cases means may be substituted which perform only the function of pressing the wood flour down into the layer of printed paint without removing the excess from the surface. The combined effect can be obtained by any light mild rubbing action, preferably with a soft and yielding material. It is preferable, however, to remove excess wood flour from the surface both while the print paintis still wet and after it has dried. Different methods and apparatus for removing the brushed-off excess wood so are illustrated on Figs. 1, 2 and 3, and these or equivalents thereof are interchangeable in the various modications.

Sprinkling the wood' flour onto the print paint,

flour and different devices for doing for example in a manner similar to that def scribed in the British patent to schloesser, No. 692 of 1881, will produce not only uneven distribution, but a flock-like markedly fuzzy surface, as tests have shown, even with the use of the modern print paint which was unknown at the date of said patent.

Sliding the wood flour over the wet print paint pattern, as is done in the loops 21y 19, 91 and 99, produces a smoother and generally more desirable appearance in the finished product than sprinkling the wood flour thereon, and the application is much more uniform than by sprinkling.

The preliminary light application of wood flour to set the surface of the paint aids materially in the production of the best high grade product, but it is within the scope of this invention to omit it in such cases where its effect on the nished product may not be essential. It prepares the surface uniformly for wood flour to slide thereover in the loop so that such sliding mild and light rubbing action, will produce a smoother and more uniform effect. The sliding of the wood flour aids in causing removal of excess wood our so that the sliding itself `makes for uniformity. While the sliding best high grade products, yet it is within the scope of this invention to omit it in such cases where its effects on the finished products may not be essential.

Removal of excess applied wood flour, both before and after the prnt paint dries, makes for materially in the production of the best high grade products. It is withl according to .lustrated, much enlarged, with the The natural or non-artificially colored flourv of spruce wood is preferred because, of the woods easily available in certain sections of this country, it changes the applied printed colors very little and because such wood is easily converted into a flour having the screen analysis previously indicated. The flour of Ponderosa pine ani of slash pine may also be used, as may the flour of other woods if of suitable color or if the characteristics they may impart to the decorative coating are desired. The screen analysis of the wood our above referred to has been found suitable and is preferred for commercial production on a large scale because it makes a product of excellent appearance. Products may, however, be made according to this invention with wood flours of different screen analyses, but

there is danger of materially increasing the prol portion'of product which will be unsatisfactory from an artistic point of view and therefore subject to rejection. The use of a wood flour which passes through a one hundred fifty mesh screen, the major proportion of which is retained on a slightly finer screen, results in a fairly good product but one which is not as good as that made with the wood flour of the preferred screen analysis. The use of a wood flour fifty (50) mesh screen, the major proportion of which is retained on a slightly finer screen, does not result in a satisfactory product.

The preferred products are approximately ilparts not necessarily in their true proportions, onFlgs. 4 and 5, it being impossibleto illustrate them more exactly because of the small dimensions involved. The product illustrated on Fig. 4 comprises theconventional saturated felt base backing Hl (shown broken away), layer or layers of seal coats H3, M5 thereover, and the printed layer of print paint |41 on the seal coat and containing the particles |49 of the wood flour. The product illustrated on Fig. 5 is the same as that shown on Fig. 4 but includes the protective coating I5I applied at 13 on Fig. l. The particles of wood flour are shown as within and almost throughout the layer of wet print paint. It is not known, however, just how vclosely adjacent the wood particles are to each other or how far down in the print paint layer they may be. It is known, however, that wood our particles are imbedded in the dry print paint layer. The colors of the dry print paints having the wood fiour applied thereto this invention show almost and practically as clearly and brightly as it' the wood flour had not been applied, there being practically no instances where loss of brightness or hiding of the color by the wood flour are of an objectionable degree. The wood our causes the surface to have an almost innnitesimal roughness which is apparent -to the eye by its softened appearance. The low color loss, if any, due to the presence of the wood flour, and the soft appearance of the surface apparently indicate that very little, if any, of the wood our particles project above the dry print paint surface and the conventional v y y l '2,292,510 7. that the predominant parts. if not all, of the a similar type over'different colored touc porwood flour particles are imbedded in the dry paint tions of said "set surface simultaneously, lightly of a mildly mat photograph even though the protective coating may add some gloss.

Figs. l, 2 and 3,' which are diagrammatic or schematic to a great extent, illustrate the principles involved in the making of the product.

be understood that equivalent means and method steps may be substituted for various means and method no mention of such substitution may have been made previously hereto in this speciiication.

1. The method of making ornamental printed felt base covering material, which consists essento set the surface thereof, sliding wood flour of steps, even though tion of said our thereto to set the surface thereof, moving the resulting treated base through the dry print paint.

4. The method of making ornamental printed felt base covering material, which consists essentially in printing a pattern of different touching colors onto a suitably prepared felt base backcoating to the resulting surface.

5. The method of applying an ornamental 'surn face to a backing comprising applying print paint mass by the wet paint.

6. The method of applying an ornamental surface to a backing comprising applying print paint' v8 wet to a fog of ywood our and then to an undispersed mass of wood flour.

9.The method ot-modifying on felt base covering material the appearance of a print paint coating of differently colored touching areas 5 which provide a pattern, comprising forming a loop of said material with said print paint coating while said coating is still wet, allplxyinsv finely said loop over said diierently colored areas while said l0 and removing excees wood our from the surface of said coating.

SAMUEL A, COHEN.

RICHARD L. NEWMAN.

THOMAS LEONARD MORRILL, J R. CHARLES D; THURMOND. 

